Leadership is Like Building a House

Can you appoint a good leader? What is leadership? Have you been able to set goals for 5, 10, 20, and 30 years from now. Review this document to learn more you can continue to achieve your goals and dream BIG.

to lay its foundation was not identified.

and Pope John Paul II influence the lives of millions around the world. In order for them

to have accomplished this, they possess the number one quality any leader must have, and

that is vision.

A simple definition of vision is a picture or view of the future. Something not

yet real but imagined (Rosenbach & Taylor, 2006). Without having an understanding of

what direction an individual or organization is heading and how they are getting there,

leaders most likely are unable to lead anyone else. Leaders must possess a vision that

involves change, is attractive to others, will embrace challenges, and involves a team

effort. A leader defines a vision by projecting energy to accept nothing less than the best.

If unable to put forth a vision, leaders will get lost and therefore be unable to lead.

Rosenbach and Taylor, in their book, Contemporary Issues in Leadership, say

vision statements should be designed to be vivid, memorable, inspiring, meaningful, and

brief. A “vivid description” is described as a picture or painting of the future entity or

what the organization aspires to become. Cultural values, beliefs and missions must be

identified. A mission should expand the organization, but be possible to achieve given

the organization’s pursuit of that goal (Rosenbach & Taylor, 2006).

According to John C. Maxwell in his book, Developing the Leader Within You,

Stanford research states that 89 percent of what we learn is visual, 10 percent of we learn

is auditory, and 1 percent of what we learn is through other senses. He states, “If you

want to know the temperature of your organization, put a thermometer in the leader’s

mouth. Leader’s can never take their people farther then they have traveled. Therefore,

3the focus of vision must be on the leader- like leader, like people. Like coach, like

player. Followers find the leader and then the vision. Leaders find the vision and then

the followers” (Maxwell, 1993).

Four Vision-Levels of People:

1. Some people never see it. (They are Wanderers.)

2. Some people see it, but never pursue it on their own. (They are followers.)

3. Some people see it and pursue it. (They are achievers.)

4. Some people see it and pursue it and help others see it. (They are leaders.)

Visualizing goals is the start to constructing a successfully built house. Unless

one is capable of pouring the foundation, leaders must successfully obtain a vision to start

the construction of their house. Having a vision of what the house looks like and

communicating a vision to others allows leaders to pass onto the next step in our

construction, GOAL SETTING.

When I was a little kid growing up, I loved telling my dad what I am going to

be when I grow up. He always replied, “How are you gonna get there?” He periodically

would follow with a story and there is one I will never forget.

The car is packed and you're ready to go, your first ever cross-country trip. From the city of Cleveland, Ohio to the rolling hills of San Francisco, you're going to see it all. You put the car in gear and off you go. First stop, the Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio. A little while into the trip you need to check the map because you've reached an intersection you're not familiar with. You panic for a moment because you realize you've forgotten your map. But you say the heck with it because you know where you're going. You take a right, change the radio station and keep on going. Unfortunately, you never reach your destination. Too many of us treat goal setting the same way. We dream about where we want to go but we don't have a map to get there. What is a map? In essence, the written word. What is the difference between a dream and a goal? Once again, the written word. Goal setting however is more than simply scribbling down some ideas on a piece of paper. Our goals need to be complete, focused and written, much like a road map.

4 Leadership is like a map. According to Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate

Dictionary, a map is a diagrammatical drawing of a route or area made to show the

location of a place or how to get there. Leadership is like a map. Leaders choose a

destination on the map that can be defined as a goal. Just like a leader, the map will show

their followers ways to reach a destination. A leader provides the information needed to

reach the goal and a pathway to achievement. A well-crafted set of goals should meet

four main criteria:

1. To help inspire greater efforts

2. To help measure success and evaluate your efforts

3. To engage your efforts today.

4. To make sure that each day’s work helps accomplish big results you want to

achieve in the future.

The writing and implementation of short-term and long-term goals allows a leader

to create, recognize and communicate to others goals to be attained. Formulating a

statement of purpose in terms of results over three different points in time can have:

1. An inspiring distant goal.

2. A mid-distant set of goals en route that is a worthy goal in itself.

3. Some immediate objectives to start working on at once.

Not every goal will be inspirational. A distant goal provides good reason for an

individual’s actions. Goals may be personal, such as finishing a marathon or saving

enough money to purchase a car. This goal should be clear and near enough to have

some impact on the actions carried out tomorrow (Fisher & Sharp, 1998). Continuing

one’s journey in attaining these goals, a point of reference or benchmark, allows leaders

5to gauge how far traveled and how much further they need to go. Depending on the

amount of time one sets for achieving goals, three to six months or possibly a year,

leaders take time to reflect on where they are, what actions they portray and how much

more time needed to achieve these goals. Formulating a set of immediate objectives calls

for instant action. For example, what am I accomplishing today for a better tomorrow?

Am I spending all the energy and encouragement I have to attain these goals? (Fisher &

Sharp, 1998) Eating the right supply of food, receiving an adequate amount of sleep and

checking off the task for today’s workload allow for immediate action towards a distant

goal.

After creating a vision and writing down clear well-defined goals putting a plan

into ACTION is the next step. Many leaders are unsuccessful even when they have a

good plan because they fall short in its execution. They do not delegate well or do not